28 November, 2011
Politics:
President of Uzbekistan awards WHO head
President of Uzbekistan receives WHO Director-General
Meeting at the Oqsaroy
Islam Karimov’s address to international healthcare symposium in Tashkent
Opening remarks at the International symposium on the National model of
maternity and childhood health protection in Uzbekistan: “Healthy mother – Healthy child” Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, 26 November 2011
Society:
International symposium considers national healthcare model
International symposium participants share thoughts
“Uzbekistan's experience could be example for many countries”
Uzbekistan as a model in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
Intl symposium considers Uzbek model of maternal and child health care
POLITICS
President of Uzbekistan awards WHO head
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a decree on 24 November on awarding the Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan with the first-level Soglom Avlod Uchun (For the Healthy Generation) order.
As stated in the decree, the high award has been issued to Margaren Chan for her outstanding contribution to the organization of the WHO activities in the field of healthcare and development of the primary medical and sanitary care, as well as implementation of the Global strategy of protection of mothers’ and children’s health.
President of Uzbekistan receives WHO Director-General
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan in Oqsaroy residence on 26 November.
Welcoming the guest, the head of the state said that her visit to the country was a testament to the tremendous interest shown by the international community, especially the WHO, to changes in the healthcare system of Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan attaches great importance to development of relations with the World Health Organization. The jointly determined strategic directions of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the WHO are reflected in the two-year agreements. The corresponding document for the period of 2012-2013 was signed this September.
In May, the Republic of Uzbekistan was elected to the Executive Committee of the WHO for the period from 2011 to 2014.
During the past 10 years, Uzbekistan implemented 70 projects together with the WHO. In particular, the WHO is supporting the project of integrated management of childhood illnesses and improvement of the drinking water supply, as well as strengthening primary healthcare in the Aral Sea area.
The WHO country office in Uzbekistan is involved in implementing the International Health Regulations, supporting the state’s efforts in increasing the public awareness about health issues. With WHO support, the country has completely eliminated a number of infectious diseases, particularly, the poliomyelitis.
With participation of the WHO, the ADB, the EU and the UNICEF, in all regions of Uzbekistan training centers have been organized, where 25,000 medical personnel were trained in the sphere of protection of motherhood and childhood. Also, with the WHO assistance, about 100 health professionals from Uzbekistan attend courses and exchange experience with colleagues in foreign countries every year.
At a meeting in Oqsaroy, the sides noted that holding in Tashkent of a large international symposium on the national model of maternal and child healthcare, and participation of the renowned medical experts, representatives of international organizations, heads of health ministries from tens of countries prove the recognition in the world of the major achievements of Uzbekistan in reforming the healthcare system.
Margaret Chan expressed her sincere gratitude for the high award – the Soglom Avlod Uchun (For the Healthy Generation) order issues to her and a warm welcome. She noted that the WHO since 1991 has seen a high level of political responsibility in Uzbekistan in the area of protection of motherhood and childhood. The “Healthy mother – healthy child” program carried out in Uzbekistan covers all essential elements of good care for mothers and children, including primary healthcare and hospital care, regular routine inspections and emergency medical care, disease prevention through immunization and early diagnosis through screening.
During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the status and prospects of future cooperation between Uzbekistan and the WHO.
AA
Meeting at the Oqsaroy
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met Leo Bokeria, director of Russia’s Bakulev Research Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, at the Oqsaroy on 26 November.
Welcoming the guest, the head of our state noted that Leo Bokeria is one of those who always enjoy great respect in Uzbekistan, especially by people who discovered the delight of life anew owing to the outstanding surgeon’s enduring talent and experience.
Leo Bokeria has been celebrated not merely as a notable doctor of our times, but also as the one making immense input into fostering cooperation between medical institutions of Uzbekistan and Russia. Around a hundred specialists from our country have undergone education and internship since 1994 at the research center headed by him.
Leo Bokeria traveled to Uzbekistan in 2004 for charity purposes and conducted complicated surgeries on children with congenital heart diseases at the Academician Vahidov National Specialized Surgery Center. A cooperation agreement was signed at the time between Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Healthcare and Bakulev Research Center for Cardiovascular Surgery. The act envisions joint academic conferences, surgeries, retraining cadres. Uzbek medical institutions and the Bokeria-led scientific center have bolstered bilateral bonds ever since. In particular, numerous scholars from Uzbekistan have pursued doctoral and post-doctoral research in close interaction with colleagues from that establishment.
During the meeting at the Oqsaroy, Leo Bokeria conveyed gratitude to the head of our state for a warm welcome and stressed Uzbekistan’s impressive accomplishments during independence years in reforming the healthcare system, in diagnostics and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in particular.
The guest underscored that the authoritative symposium in Tashkent with world-renowned academics and specialists from about forty countries and various international institutions is indicative of extensive acknowledgement of Uzbekistan’s successes in medical sphere, primarily in maternity and child healthcare.
The conversation included also exchange of views on issues pertinent to enhancing the practical cooperation between cardio-surgery specialists of Uzbekistan and Russia.
Islam Karimov’s address to international healthcare symposium in Tashkent
President Islam Karimov delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of international symposium “National Model of Mother and Child Healthcare in Uzbekistan: Healthy Mother – Healthy Child” at the newly built Symposiums Palace in the heart of Tashkent.
Following is the text of speech.
Distinguished Director General,
Dear participants of symposium, ladies and gentlemen!
I have a great pleasure to greet you, our esteemed guests, representatives of prominent international institutions – World Health Organization, UNICEF, UN Development Program and Population Fund, – heads of healthcare systems of many countries, all the contributors to this symposium, and express my deepest respect to you.
This unique building complex that has embodied the best patterns of national and contemporary architectural design and urban planning, has been commissioned quite recently and comprises two parts – National Public Library and Symposiums Palace where we are meeting at the moment. Symbolic and historic is the very fact that you, the participants of this international forum addressing the most humane and noble sphere of human activity, namely, maternity and child healthcare – are the first guests we receive in this magnificent Palace.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my earnest gratitude to You – honorable Ms Margaret Chan – and all respectable guests for accepting our invitation to attend this medium.
We are greatly honored and highly privileged that the Uzbek model of maternity and child healthcare is going to be discussed with celebrated foreign scientists and eminent specialists in the medical world. This model is a critical constituent of the nation-wide program underway in our country in population healthcare and nurturing a healthy and comprehensively advanced growing generation.
The universally recognized “Healthy Mother – Healthy Child” motto has in essence come to be a unifying and mobilizing appeal to the population. It has become a priority controlled and managed from the highest state level as much as the wider public.
To be sure, we were well aware of the fact that attaining a goal we set out was possible only with thoroughgoing reforms and modernization of the entire public healthcare system.
Today we have every reason to declare that our healthcare system continues to be built and renovated on the robust backbone that has been created during independence years.
First, a novel and unique system has been set up to provide the population with free, highly-qualified emergency medical care, a structure comprising specialized regional hospitals and branches in towns and districts meeting the highest requirements and international standards, an arrangement composed of emergency medical aid services managed and coordinated by the Emergency Medical Aid National Research Center.
Second, the 3,200 plus rural medical units established across the nation have been exceptionally vital in transforming the public healthcare system and consolidating its lower, local tier. Let me emphasize it time and again that we are not talking about village nurse staffed first-aid stations, which is the case in other countries, but units outfitted with cutting-edge medical equipment and where primary health care is provided by general practitioner doctors.
Third, healthcare institutions network at district and regional levels has been refined. Concise and soundly equipped and staffed district medical associations and regional diversified hospitals and policlinics have been instituted.
Fourth, ten national specialized applied research medical centers are currently functioning in the country based on acknowledged academic schools, including in cardiology and cardio-surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, urology, ophthalmology, phthisiology and pulmonology, endocrinology and others with the concentration of highly-qualified professionals and latest hi-tech medical service.
All these past years our efforts have been directed primarily at creating facilitating conditions for bearing and bringing up a healthy generation with an aim of longer-term effect, that is, preserving and improving the gene pool of the nation, and uplifting the expectancy of life and its quality. We quite naturally have had to carry out a tremendous work that has included transforming the psyche and consciousness of people.
In particular, in order to shape a healthy family and curtail the occurrence of potential hereditary diseases, a system of mandatory pre-marriage medical examination has been instituted.
If one looks into this issue from a wider perspective, noteworthy are the values like the moral atmosphere and ethics in society, especially in the youth environment, along with the importance attached to strengthening the family. These ideals have always been highly valued in our society and stay likewise to this day. I believe there would hardly be a necessity to prove to anyone that this factor, that is, a sound family, a sound environment in the family, is instrumental in the birth of a healthy child.
Basically all regions of Uzbekistan boast perinatal and screening centers of mothers and children. All pregnant women in rural areas are provided with state-funded multivitamins essential for forming a well fetus.
I would like to draw your attention particularly to the network of maternity and childhood modern screening centers organized within a special government program: these units have allowed us to reduce the birth of children with hereditary and congenital diseases more than 1.7 times since the year 2000.
Children under two years of age are vaccinated for free, facilitating the complete elimination of such maladies as diphtheria, tetanus, polio. Practically a hundred percent of kids under 14 undergo profound medical inspection once every two years, and fertile age women – every year.
Owing to the complex of measures undertaken in the last twenty years, maternal and child mortality in our country has decreased more than threefold. The world ranking announced by Save the Children places Uzbekistan ninth among the 161 nations surveyed in terms of government care for the health of younger generation.
Training highly qualified medical specialists is attached a critical significance in the overall healthcare reforms we have embarked on.
Medical higher education institutions currently function in Samarkand, Andijan, Bukhara, Urgench and Nukus, along Tashkent Medical Academy.
Fundamentally novel has been the organization of training medical nurses with higher education.
I would like to stress that our medical institutes work in close cooperation with leading institutions of the world like university clinics at Charite in Germany, Harvard in the United States, Manchester in the UK, Vienna of Austria, as well as renowned centers in Russia and Ukraine, major hospitals in Japan, South Korea and other countries.
I take a great delight to greet the participants of this forum and express my feelings of sincere gratitude from this high rostrum.
The immense consideration placed in our country on public healthcare has found its confirmation predominantly on the investments earmarked for advancing this sphere.
The share of national budget expenditures for healthcare makes as high as 15.7 percent and 4.1 percent of GDP.
In excess of 700 million US dollars worth soft loans and grant funds from donors have been drawn only to the consolidation of economic and technical capacities of healthcare system, to refitting with latest medical equipment.
The ongoing global financial and economic downturn notwithstanding, the funding for health sphere has grown 2.5 times in the last three years.
I would like to say literally a few words about free and paid medical service.
All primary medical care in Uzbekistan is free of charge. Likewise are the emergency and pediatric aids, obstetrics and services in treatment of a whole range of socially significant diseases, that is, oncologic, infectious and other ailments.
At the same time, we are all well aware of the fact that a modern quality medical care builds on expensive equipment – which in addition needs constant renovation – along with costly medicines, pressing thus to sensibly combine free and paid care.
Today we have every reason to assert that life has confirmed the correctness and effectiveness of healthcare model chosen by us. Let me cite just one example. We have managed to lift up life expectancy from 67 years in 1991 to the current 73, and 75 years among women.
Our experience has suggested that reforming the healthcare system ought to be a constant and uninterrupted process. Medicine, both science and practice, is perfected all along, and we have taken consideration of this truism in shaping our national healthcare model.
We are to start addressing tasks within the new phase of reforms that includes refining healthcare institutions network and outfitting them with state-of-the-art hardware. The economic and technical, research and application capacities of specialized medical centers are to be improved substantially. They are projected to turn into joint-stock companies with the introduction of incentive mechanisms for medical staff and raising their liability for end results.
Funds equaling more than 1.5 billion US dollars from various sources are planned to be mobilized to further these goals. We consider these strides crucial in boosting the wellbeing and health of the population as much as one of key indicators of our economic growth and sustainable development in society.
Dear participants of this symposium!
I am confident the outcomes of our current meeting will in the end serve to further the Millennium Development Goals. Since an opportunity to live a long and healthy life for every person is a principal indicator of human happiness.
Let me note in conclusion that it is primarily the knowledge, experience, professionalism and mastery of thousands of medics – physicians and nurses, scientists and specialists – all those who endow people with health and save lives through their tireless and selfless labor, that has been the foundation of all our achievements in healthcare that we take a rightful pride in.
There are two professions from the Lord, so to speak. One such occupation is teacher, the other is doctor. Devoted to their noble job and displaying the uppermost of human qualities every day, doctors are model for us all in disinterested service for the high ideals of humanism.
Again, from this high podium I would like to express my sincerest gratefulness to you and all other representatives of this gracious trade. I wish you fruitful work, pleasant stay in the hospitable land of Uzbekistan, a robust health and every success in your activities.
Thank you for attention.
Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General
Your Excellency, Mr Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, honourable ministers, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
Let me begin by thanking the government of Uzbekistan for hosting this International symposium on maternal and child health.
Improving the health of mothers, their new babies, and young children is one of the most critical, and most difficult, challenges facing international public health today.
Making maternal and child health a top priority is the right thing to do, for now and for the future.
You have clearly signalled this in the name you have given to your national policy: “healthy mother, healthy child”.
Your agenda covers all the right elements of good care for mothers and children.
Primary health care and hospital care. Routine preventive care and emergency care.
Prevention through immunization, and early detection through screening, but also specialized care for acute events, like accidents and injuries, which are all too common in children.
I am especially pleased to see that you are giving deserved attention to nutrition. Many health programmes neglect nutrition, seeing it as something for other sectors, like agriculture or trade, to take care of.
You are also looking at the health of adolescents, another frequently neglected area, and you are emphasizing the health-promoting role of sports.
You are doing so when times are deeply troubled in many parts of the world.
This has been a year of unprecedented natural disasters, floods, tsunamis, a nuclear accident, massive starvation in the Horn of Africa, and civil uprisings in the Middle East that toppled governments.
Ours is a world beset by one global crisis after another. The economic turndown is getting worse. In much of the world, food prices are now sky high, leading to unhealthy diets, especially in lower-income households.
Processed foods, full of sugar, salt, and fat, yet lacking essential nutrients, have become the new staple food in nearly every corner of the world.
These foods are the cheapest and most convenient way to fill a hungry stomach. These foods are the ones that contribute so greatly to the rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases.
In the midst of these global crises, this country can be proud that the health of its population has not deteriorated and that life expectancy is increasing.
Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health enjoys a close relationship with WHO, which is deeply valued.
My staff tell me that this country has a well-functioning immunization programme, with excellent and sensitive surveillance.
This is an absolutely critical asset when protecting the health of children, but also in quickly detecting infectious diseases that could threaten the entire population.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This country has made maternal and child health a top priority since the beginning of its independence.
At the global level, the start of this century was marked by international agreement among Heads of State on the Millennium Development Goals. Maternal and child health are included as priorities among a small number of time-bound targets and goals.
The past decade has demonstrated the great value of setting clear priorities and focusing efforts on attaining well-defined goals.
For decades, the worldwide number of maternal deaths was stubbornly stuck at half a million each and every year. These deaths were regarded as the starkest, saddest, and most stubborn statistic in public health.
Finally, we saw a breakthrough in the past decade.
WHO and UNICEF estimates for 2010 show a significant worldwide drop in maternal mortality, with the greatest declines, of around 60%, reported in Eastern Asia and Northern Africa.
We have more good news. During the previous decade, the number of under-five deaths dipped below 10 million for the first time in almost six decades and kept on dropping, with the figure now standing at 7.6 million deaths worldwide.
This is still way too many, as more than two-thirds of these deaths are entirely preventable through inexpensive and highly effective interventions.
But we have to admit: this is progress, welcome and measurable progress.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This country can be proud of its achievements. As the global figures, over many decades, tell us: preventing maternal, infant, and young child deaths is not an easy task.
Why is this so hard? There are multiple reasons, but let me name just a few.
First, talk about these problems is usually filled with great passion. But historically, these intense expressions of concern have not been matched by high-level political commitment and resolve.
Without this political commitment, we will never see progress.
This country has enjoyed the highest level of political commitment since 1991.
Second, for maternal mortality, we will never see progress in the absence of strong, well-functioning, affordable, and accessible health services, especially in rural areas.
The prevention of maternal deaths depends absolutely on skilled attendance at birth and access to emergency obstetric services.
This country has addressed these problems, especially by reforming the health system in line with the principles and values of primary health care, including fairness in access to care.
Such reforms promote equity and social solidarity.
They are also cost-effective.
We have very good evidence, for example, that young children with pneumonia, one of the top two killers in this age group, can be safely treated with antibiotics in homes.
These children do not always need to be hospitalized, where their already frail bodies are exposed to multiple additional pathogens in other hospitalized patients.
The same is true with home care for malaria.
Finally, for women, the obstacles that stand in the way of better health are not primarily technical or medical in nature.
They are social, cultural, and political.
These obstacles can be reduced or even removed.
But only when the right policies are in place at the highest level of government, ideally backed by legislation and strong enforcement capacity.
Let me give an example. In many countries around the world, a women needs permission from her husband or in-laws before she can seek medical care, even if her life, or that of her children, is in danger.
And let me remind you of the pay-back, nationwide, that comes from addressing any of these problems.
A health system is a social institution.
It does far more than just deliver babies and pills, the way a post office delivers letters. Properly managed and financed, a good health system contributes to social cohesion and stability.
In every country, social stability is a deeply desired goal in a world increasing disrupted by so much turmoil.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You are looking at achievements, but also at prospects for the future.
One purpose of an international symposium is to gather experiences from around the world, to look at best practices, and to identify solutions known to bring results.
While every country is unique, and most health problems are highly context-specific, let me suggest a few ingredients for success taken from vast international experience and some very solid evidence.
First, immunization is an easy win. Childhood immunization is one of the most powerful, and cost-effective preventive interventions available for safeguarding health.
Second, access to fair and affordable family planning services is another easy win. This is clearly acknowledged in health policies in Uzbekistan.
Third, reducing pregnancy in adolescent girls helps prevent low birth weight babies, and protects these girls from life-long complications that can mean a whole life spent in misery and social isolation.
Fourth, good nutrition plays a critical role for everyone, but especially for pregnant and lactating women and young children.
As nutrition is on your agenda, you will be very familiar with the reasons why the right diet is so important.
Recent evidence gives us more reasons to care about nutrition.
A child malnourished as a fetus or during the earliest years of life has a significantly increased risk of developing chronic diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and most especially diabetes.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I close, let me wish Uzbekistan, its government, doctors, nurses and other health care workers, its people, especially its mothers, new babies, young children, and adolescents, all the very best as you move forward in the right direction.
Your strategy, policies, and priorities are good ones.
Healthy mothers and healthy children are a clear route to future generations that live in harmony. And this brings social as well as physical health.
This is what everyone working in public health, and myself most especially, wants to see.
Thank you.
SOCIETY
International symposium considers national healthcare model
On 25-26 November, Tashkent will host an international symposium titled “National model of protection of maternal and children’s health in Uzbekistan: Healthy mother – healthy child”.
This forum is attended by heads and representatives of a number of international organizations, including the World Health Organization, the UNICEF, the UNFPA, as well as heads of health ministries from around 40 countries, world-famous scientists in the field of medicine, international experts and analysts.
Correspondents of the Uzbekistan National News Agency (UzA) talked to some of the symposium participants.
Stefano Marionechi, head of children’s cardiac surgery department, Milan Cardiac Surgery Clinic (Italy):
“I am glad to have this opportunity to take part in the international symposium. I am well informed of the tremendous progress achieved in Uzbekistan in the medical field since the country proclaimed independence, particularly in terms of children’s and maternal health. This can be seen on the example of the cardiac surgery.
“Today in Uzbekistan, all children’s congenital heart defects are treated according to international standards. An important factor is creation of modern medical facilities. We have seen the new cardiac surgery department created at the Republican specialized surgery center. This means that the quality and scope of medical services in this area will increase.”
Lorenzo Bonnie, head of pediatric surgery department of a Madrid hospital (Spain):
“We are participating in the operations taking place at the Republican specialized surgery center, and exchange experience with our Uzbek colleagues. Treatment of congenital heart diseases, occurring in children, is a very important process. This requires special medical facilities equipped with modern technologies, as well as qualified professionals like cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthetists, perfusionist, special nursing care.
“The conditions created in Uzbekistan and the operational procedures fully comply with international standards. The screening of mothers and children helps prevent such pathologies among children. Accompanied with timely health and social care for pregnant, these measures are yielding good results in giving birth to the healthy generation.”
Arianna Plebani, representative of the Italian international humanitarian organization helping the children:
“I’ve been to many countries around the world and can say that in Uzbekistan, a lot of attention and care is shown to children. The attending of this symposium by leading scientists and experts from dozens of countries proves that there is a growing interest in the experience of Uzbekistan in the field of maternal and children’s health.
“I am glad to be able to participate in this important forum, which will facilitate the mutual exchange of experience.”
Anup Raj, director of Holy Angels Hospital (India):
“I visited Uzbekistan previously and I am aware of the results of reforms in all fields, including medicine. The country has managed to create effective mechanisms for the development of medicine and has achieved great success in this direction.”
Roland Vauer, professor of the Charite Clinic (Germany):
“Participation in this international symposium, which is attended by the most famous and respected specialists of the world, is a great opportunity. As part of this forum, I held a workshop on “Neonatal emergency care, intensive care and mechanical ventilation” at the Republican Perinatal Center.
“Early diagnosis of each woman and the birth of a healthy baby largely depends on the use of the latest methods and technologies. It is good to see that the center has modern equipment and is provided with all the facilities required. All of this, of course, serves to strengthen the protection of the maternal and children’s health in Uzbekistan.”
Professor Paul Vogt, founder of the EurAsia Heart foundation, director of the Im Park clinic, heart surgeon (Switzerland):
“Our foundation works closely with the countries of Europe and Asia in the field of medicine. As part of this international symposium, I had the opportunity to participate in the heart surgery operation at the Republican scientific center of emergency medical care. From what I saw I can say that in Uzbekistan, a lot of work to improve the cardiac surgery is being done.”
nternational symposium participants share thoughts
An international symposium titled “National model of protection of maternal and child health in Uzbekistan: “Healthy mother – healthy child” is continuing in Uzbekistan. Correspondents of the Uzbekistan National Information Agency talked to some of them.
Professor Leonid Roshal, director of the Scientific Research Institute of Emergency Children’s Surgery and Traumatology of the Russian Federation:
“I have been able to observe the process of development of medical sector of Uzbekistan previously. I have to say Uzbekistan’s initial choice of development strategy for the health system was correct. While many countries did not pay attention to pediatrics, Uzbekistan from the first years of independence has paid a special attention to children’s diseases and their treatment.
“Along with this, extensive work has been carried out in personnel training. Children’s hospitals have not only been preserved, but many new ones were built. Thanks to the farsighted policy of the leadership of Uzbekistan, your country is nurturing a spiritually and physically developed young generation.
“In Uzbekistan, a right and reliable model of child health care has been developed. As a result, the rate of infant mortality has significantly decreased. I like the slogan “Everything the best for the children”, which has a deep meaning, and to implement it is the duty of each of us.”
Sofia Al-Khoja, director of Al-Kasymi hospital(UAE):
“Uzbekistan has carried out significant work to protect and strengthen maternal and child health. I am glad to have the opportunity to study Uzbekistan’s experience in this area, and exchange views with specialists in your country.
“Your country has been implementing large-scale reforms to strengthen the legal framework of maternal and child health. Several projects to make pregnancy safer, to ensure effective perinatal care, promote breastfeeding, implementation of the integrated treatment strategy of child diseases are being successfully implemented. Many countries could follow this example of Uzbekistan.”
Ian Pett, head of the health sector, UNICEF:
“Children’s health is an important for all countries. Everybody is equally responsible for the solution of this problem. Uzbekistan is a leading country in terms of maternal and child health in the region. The effective mechanism of upbringing harmoniously developed generation, protection of maternal and child health, as well as ongoing reforms to improve the reproductive health of reform are worth commending. UNICEF will continue its close and consistent cooperation with Uzbekistan in this area.”
Nurzhan Otarbaev, director of the Medical and Research Center of Mother and Child the Republic of Kazakhstan:
”Your country has achieved great results in the maternal and child health care. Especially notable are the use of advanced achievements of the world medicine, and construction of modern medical facilities in rural areas.
“I would like to highlight the effectiveness of the programs to improve maternal and child nutrition. Positive results have also been obtained in the national strategy on breastfeeding. The reduction of anemia among mothers and children has been achieved. We always observe and study the experience of Uzbekistan in this direction.”
AA
“Uzbekistan's experience could be example for many countries”
The international symposium titled “National model of protection of maternal and child health in Uzbekistan: “Healthy mother – healthy child” was held in Uzbekistan on 25-26 November. Correspondents of Uzbekistan National Information Agency talked to some of them.
Marie Camille Lenormand, Deputy minister of labor, employment and health of France:
“Uzbekistan is implementing large-scale reforms in the medical field and is achieving great success. Under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, attention is paid to the health of mothers and children.
“This symposium provides an opportunity to get acquainted more thoroughly with the national model of Uzbekistan in the field of maternal and child health care, which has received high evaluation in the world, as well as exchange views and experiences with colleagues from different countries.”
Slamet Riyadi Yuvono, Deputy health minister of Indonesia:
“I visited several clinics in your capital during the symposium. The modern system of medical services has been formed in Uzbekistan. Medical centers in Tashkent and in the regions are equipped with modern equipment and fully cover all segments of the population. This is very important in improving the health of mothers and children.”
Professor Vera Revyakina, head of the Allergy Department of the Nutrition Scientific Research Institute, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences:
“At this forum, leading scientists and doctors of the world are jointly searching for ways to expand the scale of health services for mother and child, analyze the most urgent problems and develop the best practices in this direction.”
Manuel Ashauer, president of the Austrian Radiologists Society:
“The attention paid in Uzbekistan to the development of medical services is yielding good results. I have four children, so I am very interested in issues of maternal and child health.
“The new methods and technologies introduced into medical practice help in the early diagnosis of diseases, prevention of disabilities and rehabilitation. Radiology is dynamically developing in Uzbekistan, with the latest technologies widely used in the sphere.
“At the symposium, I am presenting a report on the advantages and possibilities of the magnetic resonance tomography. We have conducted several scientific and practical seminars on the use of this equipment in Uzbekistan and Austria in collaboration with experts of your country.”
Professor Yuriy Gladush, director of children’s hospital Okhmatdet (Ukraine):
“Ministries of health of Uzbekistan and Ukraine cooperate in directions like maternal and child health, reproductive health, epidemiological control, food safety, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, promoting healthy lifestyles. A consistent work is being carried out to prevent HIV/AIDS spread among infants and its treatment.”
Professor Marina Degtyareva, head of the neonatal research department of the Russian National Research Medical University named after Pirogov:
“Maternal and child health, upbringing the young generation physically and mentally healthy are important factors in effective solutions of the health, social and demographic issues, improving the nation’s intellectual potential and achieving sustainable development.
“In the years of independence, Uzbekistan has given priority to these matters, and this has given notable results. The maternal and infant morbidity and mortality have decreased, and the scale of high quality medical services for all segments of the population has increased.”
“I was particularly amazed by the projects aimed at improving the quality of pediatric education and service. I believe in-depth study and application of the achievements of Uzbekistan will be useful for many other countries.”
Uzbekistan as a model in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
The round table titled “Priorities for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the European region” was held in the framework of the international symposium on the maternal and children’s health in Tashkent. Health ministers and delegations of various states, as well as heads and experts of the organizations took part in the event.
The Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the UN Summit in 2000, have identified for the world a range of critical tasks to improve the quality of life and the wellbeing of the people, said Regional Director for Europe of the World Health Organization Zsuzsanna Jakab. The key indicators are those for the achievement of the 4th and 5th goals – reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and they show the effectiveness of all activities related to the MDGs.
In Uzbekistan, on the initiative of President Islam Karimov, a huge work has been carried out in this direction, and its results serve as an example for other countries. Today, many countries in the European region are developing their own strategies for reform in this area and consider the national model of maternal and child health care of Uzbekistan.
After gaining independence by the country, fundamental improvement of the public health system has become a priority of the state policy. During wide-scale reforms in the country, huge transformations have taken place in all spheres of life, leading to creation of Uzbekistan’s own, national healthcare model.
The appropriate legal framework was developed as well. In 1998, President Islam Karimov signed a decree approving the State program of reforming the country’s healthcare system, which has defined a strategy of public health services for the coming years, based on universal access to quality healthcare.
As Minister of Health of Uzbekistan Adham Ikramov stressed, a special place in this work is occupied by implementation of the principle “Healthy mother – healthy child”. These activities include protecting the rights of women and children, protecting their health, fortification of food, providing pregnant women with multivitamin complexes, prevention of infectious diseases, all of which lead to raising healthy and harmonious developed young generation.
The comprehensive reform of primary healthcare system in Uzbekistan has allowed to bring quality medical care to residents of the most remote areas. Over 3,200 rural medical units have been created and provided with modern equipment, making a huge contribution to strengthening the health of women and children, their immunization, sanitation and hygiene education and promotion of healthy lifestyle. Wide preventive work is carried out in the field of reproductive health. It is important that these activities are implemented not only by government agencies, but also by public associations, women’s committees, NGOs, and citizens’ self-government bodies (mahallas).
The participants of the round table noted that in Uzbekistan a fundamentally new system of emergency medical care with a network of regional branches equipped with the latest equipment has been set up. The work of maternity hospitals and children’s medical establishments is based on advanced technologies of diagnosis, prevention and treatment that meet WHO standards.
The creation of a network of screening centers in all regions has significantly decreased the birth of children with hereditary diseases and congenital defects of development. The network of perinatal centers helps in the birth of healthy children even in the most complex cases.
“We visited the clinic of the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute, and saw how the work on nursing children and the system of surgical care for children is organized,” Vice-President of the European Pediatric Association Manuel Moya said. “Uzbekistan has established the national model of maternal and child healthcare which fully meets the highest international standards. This model can be successfully used in other countries. After all, achieving the Millennium Development Goals is a global task, and all countries around the world are willing to fulfill this task.”
“Uzbekistan has achieved great success in the health sector, and this fact can not be denied, said the Minister of Health of Latvia Ingrid Circene. “This work in the country is carried out in accordance with the standards and priorities of the WHO.”
The meeting participants discussed the issues of how to achieve the MDGs related to health of women and children, and opportunities for strengthening this capacity in different countries. Particular attention was attached to the fact that in Uzbekistan tasks set in the Millennium Development Goals are integrated into national action plans and government programs, which contributes to their effective implementation.
In this regard, the participants of the round table came to an agreement on the need to study and disseminate the practices of Uzbekistan, the countries where unprecedented resources are allocated to the complex development of the healthcare system and protection of motherhood and childhood has been raised to the level of state policy.
Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the Women’s Committee E.Basithanova spoke at the round table.
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Intl symposium considers Uzbek model of maternal and child health care
The Symposiums Palace of the recently opened Marifat Markazi (Enlightenment Center) in Tashkent hosted an international symposium on the “National model of maternal and child health care in Uzbekistan: “Healthy mother – healthy child” on 26 November.
The event, organized on the initiative of President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, was held by the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan jointly with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Some 300 world-known academics and representatives of healthcare- related international organizations, including heads of the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, ministries of health from almost 40 countries including the USA, China, Russia, Canada, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Finland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, South Korea and other states took part in the symposium.
The main topic of the forum was the cardinal reforms implemented in Uzbekistan since the country proclaimed independence in the area of protection of health, including maternal and child health, upbringing healthy generation, and creating a national model.
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov spoke at the opening of the international forum.
In accordance with the Decree of the President of Uzbekistan of 24 November 2011, Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan, for her outstanding services in organizing the work of the WHO and development of primary health care, implementation of the Global strategy of protection of the health of mothers and children, was awarded with the order Soglom Avlod Uchun (For the Healthy Generation) of the first degree.
The head of the state Islam Karimov presented this high award to Margaret Chan.
In her speech, Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan said that Uzbekistan was paying great attention to health issues, especially maternal and children’s health. Protection of mothers’ and children’s health is defined as a priority, which is the rightest strategy, not only in terms of today, but also the future.
Margaret Chan also expressed sincere gratitude to President of Uzbekistan for the high award.
Since the country proclaimed independence, cardinal reforms have been implemented in the healthcare sector under the guidance of President Islam Karimov. All necessary conditions have been created to ensure healthy and decent living, raising physically and mentally healthy young people, expanding domestic production of pharmaceutical products. Relevant laws, decrees and decisions of the President and the Cabinet serve as an important factor in the development of the health sector. The decree of the head of the state “On State program of reforming healthcare system of the Republic of Uzbekistan” of 10 November 1998 marked the beginning of an important stage in the cardinal reform of the sector.
The protection of the maternal and children’s health, and upbringing the healthy generation are set as priorities of the state policy. One of the first international instruments which Uzbekistan joined was the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the parliament on 9 September 1992. On 8 January 2008, the Law “On guarantees of the rights of the child was adopted.”
The first order of the country, Soglom Avlod Uchun (For the Healthy Generation), established on 4 March 1993, is a symbol of the attention to the health of the young generation, as well as large-scale work on the formation of physically and spiritually developed young people.
The conduction of the high-profile international forum at the Symposiums Palace in the Enlightenment Center is yet another manifestation of the consistent attention to the issues of raising a healthy generation.
The care about the health of the women and children is a concern about the future of the nation. Uzbek people have since ancient times respectfully treating women who are the keepers of the family, mothers and educators of the children. In the course of the reforms in the years of independence, these good traditions have been enriched with new content.
The strengthening in the people’s minds of the idea “Healthy mother – healthy child” has in the full sense of the word made this a nationwide movement. Speaking about the healthy generation, we, in the first place, mean healthy children. In this regard, based on the program “Healthy mother – healthy child”, activities have been developed and consistently implemented in the past years to protect the mothers and children, and increasing the medical culture in the families.
At the plenary session of the symposium, detailed information on Uzbekistan’s national model of health services, including maternal and children’s health, was presented.
The speakers at the symposium stressed that over the past years Uzbekistan has established a national model of health services at the level of international standards. A network of qualitatively new medical establishments has been created, which includes the Republican center of emergency medical care and the specialized scientific-practical centers in different areas of medicine. New multidisciplinary clinics for children and adults are functioning in the regions, maternity hospitals are being built, and the primary health care basis has been strengthened, in particular, in the rural areas.
A single system of providing specialized medical aid to children has been created. It consists of the Republican specialized scientific-practical pediatric medical center and 13 regional children’s multipurpose medical centers. Qualified care for mothers and newborns is provided at the Republican specialized scientific-practical medical center of obstetrics and gynecology, and its regional affiliates, as well as perinatal centers.
On the basis of the State Program “Mother and Child Screening” adopted on the initiative of the President, in all regions of the country a network of modern screening centers has been created. This has allowed to bring prevention and treatment of many congenital and hereditary diseases to a new level.
The Republican Center for Reproductive Health and its 13 regional branches were set up, which provide high-quality medical care and are working to raise the awareness of the population on the issues of reproductive health.
Improving the food ration is part of the national strategy of improvement of the social welfare. In this direction, necessary legislative and regulatory framework has been created to ensure the safety and quality of food. Laws “On state sanitary control”, “On prevention of micronutrient deficiency among the population,” “On certification of products and services” and “On prophylaxis of iodine deficiency diseases” were adopted.
Measures to protect reproductive health of the population, and health of pregnant women by providing them with special multivitamin complexes that contain the necessary range of essential micronutrients are being taken. The state has allocated funds for the annual purchase of multivitamin complexes, which help pregnant women in rural areas improve their health, leading to birth of healthy children. The programs on flour fortification and salt iodization have been successfully implemented in the country. All this, as well timely treatment and preventive services, have helped significantly reduce the prevalence of iodine deficiency among the population and anemia among women of childbearing age.
The President signed resolution “On additional measures to protect the health of mother and child, and forming healthy generation” on 13 April 2009, and “On the Program of measures to further improve the efficiency of the work to strengthen reproductive health, giving birth to healthy child, formation of physically and spiritually developed generation for 2009-2013” on 1 July 2009.
These documents envisaged measures to improve the health of the women of childbearing age, extension of periods between the births, prevention of early marriages and marriages between close relatives, training medical personnel, strengthening the material and technical base of maternity and primary healthcare establishments, as well as raigin public awareness of reproductive health. Additionally, wide-scale is being carried out to attract children and young people to physical culture and sports.
The participants of the international symposium got familiarized with the exhibition dedicated to the achievements of Uzbekistan in the area of health, namely maternal and child health, and took part in the sessions of the forum.
Via a teleconference, they got acquainted with the Week of improvement of health of women of childbearing age, which is taking place at the rural medical point in Syrdarya region, medical examination of pregnant women at a screening center in Jizzakh region, and the activity of the Namangan branch of the Republican specialized medical research center of obstetrics and gynecology.
The symposium participants visited the Republican scientific center for emergency medical care, the Republican scientific and practical medical center of tuberculosis and pulmonology, as well as children’s hospitals in Tashkent. They also familiarized themselves with the work of a number of clinics and specialized centers and participated in satellite conferences and workshops. Some of the forum participants, attended surgery operations together with specialists from Uzbekistan.
The forum concluded with the adoption of a resolution of the international symposium.